CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
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Abecedarian personal effects of 'a mad genius'
A Turkish Delight of musings on languages, deflations of metaphysics, vauntings of arcana, and great visual humor.

Found 705 posts tagged ‘christmas’

I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought – December 25, 2020 (permalink)

If the war on Christmas continues at its current pace, we'll once again need signposts to find it.  From This Way to Christmas by Ruth Sawyer, 1916.
> read more from I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought . . .
#vintage christmas #christmas #old book
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Images Moving Through Time – December 25, 2020 (permalink)

A 1921 postcard from our personal archives.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage christmas #christmas #vintage postcard #postcard
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Yearbook Weirdness – December 25, 2020 (permalink)

We all know about the war on Christmas, but fewer of us acknowledge Santa's fight against the living dead.  From Methodist College's 1969 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#skeleton #vintage christmas #christmas #vintage photo #living dead #vintage yearbook #yearbook #santa #war on christmas
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Images Moving Through Time – December 25, 2020 (permalink)

From Savannah State's 1963 yearbook.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#christmas tree #vintage christmas #christmas #vintage photo #vintage yearbook #yearbook #glowing tree
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 24, 2020 (permalink)

The link between te petroleum industry and Christmas is rarely discussed.  From Der Bärenspiegel, 1935.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #christmas #petroleum #oil industry #oil barrel
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 24, 2020 (permalink)

From Weird Tales, 1930.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #christmas #murder #knife #stabbing
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Yearbook Weirdness – December 24, 2020 (permalink)

The endpapers from Florida Southern's 1933 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage christmas #christmas #vintage yearbook #yearbook #star #biblical #endpapers #three wise men
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 24, 2020 (permalink)

Rare to see Santa Claus depicted as the giant that he is.  From Nebelspalter, 1918.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #giant #vintage christmas #christmas #santa #illustration
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The Right Word – December 24, 2020 (permalink)

From St. Nicholas magazine, 1916.
> read more from The Right Word . . .
#christmas #wordplay #poem
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 24, 2020 (permalink)

From The Magic Sea Shell and Other Plays by John Farrar, 1923.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #fairy tale #vintage christmas #christmas
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Yearbook Weirdness – December 24, 2020 (permalink)

"We Carol" by Barbara Mason.  From MacMurray's 1938 yearbook.

*For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.
> read more from Yearbook Weirdness . . .
#vintage illustration #christmas #winter #vintage yearbook #yearbook #singing #noel #caroling #christmas carol
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 24, 2020 (permalink)

Socks for Christmas.  From Der Bärenspiegel, 1939.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #christmas #teddy bear #socks
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 24, 2020 (permalink)

From The Bunny and Bear Book by Laura Rountree Smith, 1923.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage christmas #christmas #rabbit #bunny #stockings
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 24, 2020 (permalink)

"And tells what toys those boys have got, and what he thinks they need."  From The Wonderful Fairies of the Sun by Ernest Vincent Wright and illustrated by Cora M. Norman, 1896.  See How to Believe in Your Elf.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #elf #vintage christmas #christmas #santa
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Disguised as a Christmas Tree – December 24, 2020 (permalink)

From Nebelspalter, 1933.
> read more from Disguised as a Christmas Tree . . .
#vintage illustration #beard #vintage christmas #christmas #candles
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Old News – December 23, 2020 (permalink)

"A dictionary editor says ... It is not irreverent to use 'Merry Xmas.'"  From Together, 1969.
> read more from Old News . . .
#xmas #vintage christmas #christmas #vintage headline #headline
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Images Moving Through Time – December 23, 2020 (permalink)

What a relief to see the caption, because at first glance we thought this youngster had encountered a dead body hanging from the rafers.  From The American Annual of Photography, 1913.
> read more from Images Moving Through Time . . .
#vintage christmas #christmas #vintage photo
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 23, 2020 (permalink)

"Who says there ain't no Santa Claus!"  From The Film Daily, 1945.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage christmas #christmas #lion #santa
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Old News – December 23, 2020 (permalink)

"What can you say about Christmas?"  Nothing, since all the meanings have been lost over the centuries: see The Collected Lost Meanings of Christmas.
From Hanover's 1962 yearbook.
> read more from Old News . . .
#vintage christmas #christmas #vintage yearbook #yearbook #vintage headline #headline
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Restoring the Lost Sense – December 23, 2020 (permalink)

From Nebelspalter, 1929.  See The Collected Lost Meanings of Christmas.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost sense of immediacy.  We follow the founder of the Theater of Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free.  The images we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
> read more from Restoring the Lost Sense . . .
#vintage illustration #vintage christmas #christmas
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